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Paula Gardner

Paula Gardner is Bridge’s first business editor, joining the team in April 2020. Paula will be leading our new dive into business reporting, emphasizing Michigan’s economy and policy issues that affect it, along with stories about the people, decisions and changes on the front lines of business in our state. Her career includes several years at MLive.com, where she was editor of The Ann Arbor News, statewide business reporter and part of an award-winning environmental coverage team that helped uncover and dig into Michigan’s PFAS crisis. Among her honors is an award naming her Michigan’s Journalist of the Year in 2019 from the Michigan Press Association. Paula’s experience includes leading the news team at AnnArbor.com, a digital news startup launched in 2009 that generated company-leading audience growth. Before that, she worked at Michigan Business Review, the Detroit Free Press and the Ypsilanti Press. Paula moved from Dearborn Heights to attend the University of Michigan, then never left the greater Ann Arbor area after graduation. Find her as Paula_Gardner on Twitter or pgardner@bridgemi.com

Articles

As Michigan begins to reopen, 87 percent of Michigan small businesses forecast sales declines. A survey also shows more business owners favor President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic than they do that of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Windows were smashed along a street filled with small, independent businesses in this West Michigan city. As Tuesday evening loomed, there was sympathy for sincere protests against police violence, and fear of what “outsiders” might have in store.

‘During a time of crisis when you have limited dollars, you really need to make sure that whatever you are spending helps as many people as possible,’ says Doug Rothwell of Business Leaders for Michigan.

Coronavirus closed nonessential stores across the state, but now retailers can start to reopen. The return to in-person sales could be the start of a rebound for the struggling sector — and more jobs for unemployed residents.

Some of Michigan’s retailers will still wait weeks to reopen, as they align staffing, their finances and how they’ll follow state guidelines. This is one story among them, as the owner of Curious and Archives in East Lansing grapples with coronavirus impacts.

Some Michigan restaurants can reopen this weekend, but COVID-19 is still changing the industry. These lessons from Florida, which reopened dining room access earlier this month, offer insight into how the new rules are reshaping business.

No opening date has been announced for the state’s restaurant industry, which lost over $1 billion in sales during April. Now the industry is outlining what it thinks it needs to do to reopen — and it wants the OK to start planning.

COVID-19 continues to pressure the state’s smallest operations, with 45 percent closed and 60 percent laying off at least one employee. Here is what an advocacy group says about the situation and what is needed next.

Cities like Ann Arbor and East Lansing benefit from the ‘economic engines’ of their state universities. Budget shortfalls, potential layoffs and more fallout from COVID-19 now threaten their financial balance, from students shopping in local stores to how many people they employ.

Coronavirus is still battering the state’s restaurant industry, which lost $1.2 billion in sales in April and saw 75 percent of workers laid off. Switching to carry-out and opening for fewer patrons may not be enough for many to survive.

Businesses in the northeast Lower Peninsula say some workers are not quite ready to return to their jobs, given the boost in income they receive from special federal and state funding during the pandemic lockdown.